Coda, Melbourne

Betel leaves

What to say about Coda? It's uber-cool with a funky, industrial, concrete shell setting, lots of buzz and some of the dishes have spark. It does modern Thai and Vietnamese sharing dishes with a big side of hype. But, in the end, save yourself a walk down the stairs (and quite a few dollars), and go to my now beloved Chin Chin down the road or luscious Longrain a few blocks away.

Fried betel leaves

Harsh? Well, I did have a great night with Ms Gourmet Chick, MTV Husband and TPG. But, after the last martini was spilled (literally - sorry Ms Gourmet Chick) the lasting memories of the food were that it was patchy. I loved the spanner crab betel leaves - zingy and fresh with a lively array of flavours and textures. And I quite liked the crisp zucchini fritters with oozy mozzarella, fresh slithers of zucchini, punchy peas and mint. But other than that, I mostly remember the downers.

Not so special pork belly "special"

The recommended pork belly special was a huge disappointment - boring, slimy texture, no rich porky flavour and no crackling. NO CRACKLING! Big fail. The Scotch fillet may have been cooked straight from the fridge - still slightly cold in the middle and lacking that full sublime flavour of the fabulous steaks I had in the King Valley this weekend (more later). The banana fritters had a raw doughy flabbiness about them.

Octopus with sour green mango

Neither was the magic there with Coda's much talked about wine selection either. Perhaps we were unlucky, but we didn't have the normal sommelier, Travis Howe, at hand and the selection of wines chosen by the sommelier of the evening left us non-plussed.

 Zucchini fritters with mozzarella

I had high hopes for Coda. It looks like all that I love about Melbourne restaurants. It fell short for me.

Banana fritters

Golden Fields, St Kilda - Melbourne

It would be overhyped if it wasn't totally deserving of all the hoopla. Golden Fields is the schizz.

There are 3 reasons I know some of my London readers at least will clutch their heads and grimace sceptically:
1. It's "pan Asian" (sorry Mr Noodles); and
2. It specialises in small plates..
3. ... for sharing.

Ok, ok, I hear ya. Yes, these things are often a red flag for a place trying too hard to be trendy and take the best from a few Asian food cultures, while achieving neither. But at Golden Fields, everything just works.

To start with, it looks inviting. The dining room is open, white and airy, with dark wooden tables and contemporary style. The full length marble bar overlooks the open kitchen - prop up for a drink and a snack, or settle in to one of the larger tables in the sunny and spacious space for a bigger feast with friends. Move it all outside on a sunny day, and watch the world of St Kilda go by.

The marinated cucumber, radish, ginger and garlic ($7) is a refreshing opener to a salad of juicy poached chicken ($15) and the mud crab with fried egg aioli, scuds and holy basil ($21). Or try whole roasted John Dory with Chinese olives and cauliflower ($32) or Cape Grim scotch fillet (not nearly as grim as it sounds) with black fungus and shitake ($37). For dessert there's a peanut butter parfait with salted caramel and soft chocolate ($10) or crispy black sesame, lime and a dollop of yoghurt ($15).

It won the 2012 The Age Good Food Guide Best New Restaurant. You can't book ahead for tables of less than 8 people (the current annoying trend in Melbourne) but there are plenty of places to have a drink nearby while you wait - it's worth it.

Nopi, Soho

Beef brisket croquettes with Asian 'slaw

I'm a big fan of Ottolenghi - both the cafes and the cookbooks. With such bright and bold flavours and colours, a table full of Ottolenghi salads is like an exotic, glistening jewellery box appealing to the eye as much as the palate.

The Ottolenghi team have now opened Nopi in Soho. It's an all day dining brasserie with small sharing plates, brimming with Middle Eastern and Asian flavours.

Kingfish carpaccio

After an enthusiastic days shopping, TPG and I dropped in for a pitstop at the bar for some shared plates and a glass of wine (or two). (Although other reports suggest it's best to book ahead).

Beef brisket croquettes with Asian 'slaw are sublimely rich, meaty and moist - the tangy slaw cuts through them perfectly. A must, I'd say.

Pan fried sea bream with turmeric potatoes and rasam is excellent, so plump and juicy, while a spicy kingfish carpaccio with pickled cauliflower is light and lovely.

Creamy burrato oozes onto a salad of bright blood orange and coriander seeds.

The wine list is interesting and our servers at the bar are fantastic - they do a great job of suggesting wines to match our meal, which really hit the spot.

The atmosphere is lacking something (might it be different in the evening?), and its quite a dark spot on a sunny day - but I do love the funky light fittings. It's smarter than the Ottolenghi cafes, but it's still fairly relaxed and people seem to be enjoying themselves. The downstairs canteen area has a big communal table overlooking the open kitchen, and is more in the Ottolenghi cafe style. Special mention must go to the room of angled mirrors that is the bathroom - try to find your way out in under 5 seconds (it's totally worth a visit while you're there).

Prices are in the mid-high range and can stack up - our bill came in at just over £70 for two people, including 3 glasses of wine and service.

Thinking about Ottolenghi's lusty cake selection, I'm tempted to go back to Nopi to try the cardamom rice pudding with rose syrup and pistachio. I'll keep you posted.

 Nopi,  22 Warwick Street, Soho, London, W1B 5NE (Tel: 020 7494 9584)

Spice Market, Covent Garden

Jean-Georges Vongerichten has brought the concept behind his fantabulously fitted out Spice Market in New York's trendy Meatpacking district to London's new W Hotel. It's all there, albeit on a less jaw dropping scale. Think less soaring ceilings, more views across the back streets of Leicester Square.

There's a geographically diverse array of spicy South-East Asian dishes - not so much authentic as interesting - in a setting that has an appealing blend of swanky modern and exotica - colourful spice jars line the walls, and there's a long, funky sushi bar, striking fittings and dark wooden furnishings. Something about it still feels a little bit clinical (that lurking London "chain" feel that never seems to be a problem for New York restaurants), but perhaps it depends on where you're sitting and how much it's buzzing.

A group of 6 of us with much to celebrate found ourselves working through the "family style" sharing plates this weekend. There were hits, there were misses.

One thing Spice Market does well is its sauces. An endless onslaught of light and crispy papadoms is brought to our table and continuously refreshed as we dip enthusiastically into a seriously addictive kasundi - the sweet chilli jam giving serious oomph to the light tomatoey sauce.

We splatter charred chilli rubbed minced beef, tender and rare, with the accompanying lime before dipping into a mildly tangy Thai basil dipping sauce (£11).

Warm salmon spring rolls taste overly fishy but there's a generous piece of salmon in each bite and the accompanying 5 spice emulsion is a treat (£9.50). The lobster summer roll with a light Thai sriracha emulsion is bland for your £15 (I wouldn't bother with it again), even if the tart lime jelly gave it some lift.

My favourite of the starters is the refreshing and spicy Thai slaw, with Asian pear, crispy shallots and mint (£8).

The presence of pineapple in the sweet duck curry divided the troops, like all Hawaiian pizzas before it, but the plentiful strips of moist and meaty duck were excellent (£19).

Crispy salt and pepper brill with Thai basil and lime is like an exotic fish and chips, but is lacking some zing (£18). Pork vindaloo is terrific - a dry and spicy mix of satisfyingly juicy, porky chunks with fragrant basil and garlic (£14). However, best of the lot is the char grilled chicken, wonderously tender and moist, with a zesty Kumquat lemongrass dressing (£19).

Service is friendly and aims to please.

At the end, there was some confusion over the tip. The receipt had a 12.5% service charge in the usual place, which we paid, only to be informed later by our waiter that the charge does not go to the waiters as a tip - it covers the fee for the room, the use of the credit card facilities and all the other stuff that you presume is covered by the not insubstantial price of the food. A tip, we were informed, would be extra.

We left thinking this was outrageous, although the PR for the the restaurant has since informed me that 85% of the service charge does go to the front of house staff (an amount which they say is standard across the industry). Seems some communication wrinkles to the staff are still being ironed out in these early days.

Spice Market is good, although at these prices it does feel a little bit like style over substance (with the exception of the pork vindaloo and the char grilled chicken). Being at least £35 per head (with minimal drinks) + service, I want to be just that little bit more impressed.

Spice Market, W London, 10 Wardour St, W1D 6QF (Tel: 020 7588 1088)